1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an arm restraint, and more particularly to a light weight, durable, comfortable, and disposable pediatric arm restraint.
2. The Prior Art
Pediatricians and hospital personnel have long been confronted with the problem of restricting an infant's hands following surgery or during an intravenous feeding. Infants, by their natural curious nature, always try to pull at intravenous feedings tubes or medical dressings, thereby drastically reducing their effectiveness and requiring further medical attention.
Various prior attempts have been made to solve this problem, but no truly successful remedies have heretofore emerged.
One such attempt included merely placing a sock over the infant's hands and arms. This, however, is not truly effective and desirable because the sock is easily removed and because the infant is unable to use its hands for permissive activity while the sock is on the arm.
A second attempt included the use of splints and gauze wrapping to keep the elbow straight, but this technique is both time consuming to the pediatrician and relatively uncomfortable to the young patient.
A third attempt involves the use of two semicylindrical medical metal frames which are placed around the infant's arm and taped in place to keep the elbow straight. Likewise, this particular effort has proved to be undesirable because (1) the end of the metal frames irritate the infant's axilla region, (2) the frames are heavy, particularly to the young patient, and (3) this device is relatively expensive.
A fourth attempt involves the use of two plastic sheets secured together by an adhesive, as shown by U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,466. This particular device, however, does not totally restrict elbow movement by virtue of the hinge established by the adhesive.
Other prior art restraining devices are shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,998,008, 3,297,026, and 3,010,452.
Most notably, none of the prior art devices provide a tapering or conical feature which accomodates the reducing size of the arm from the shoulder to the hand.
In short, no suitable prior art device restricts the movement of an infant's elbow while also permitting free use of the infant's hands.